


Einherjar

by SyntaxHighlights



Category: Lancer (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Alternate Reality, Artificial Intelligence, Existential Crisis, Forced Alteration of Mental States, Gen, Mecha, Paracausality
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:14:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29816532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SyntaxHighlights/pseuds/SyntaxHighlights
Summary: Gatecrasher Team is sent to investigate an anomaly, Paracausal Entity  913-B (PE-913-B) in the aftermath of an unknown disaster in a Harrison Armory-controlled system. Reality is tenuous, and consciousness is split, time and time again.





	Einherjar

“Command, Gatecrasher; we are 10 minutes out from Papa Echo 913 Bravo”. “Command copies Gatecrasher, check in again when you have eyes”. Emily, Gatecrasher Actual, settled back in the pilot’s seat of her mech as her squadron continued to coast towards the target. Paracausal Entity 913-B, was situated in the remnants of an asteroid-based AI research lab. Their employer, Harrison Armory, had previously operated it, operated all the colonies in this particular star system, until some unspecified disaster happened. Or perhaps would happen, they were dealing with things outside conventional causality. As the last few minutes passed before they would make visual contact with the entity, Emily twiddled with one of the control sticks in the cockpit, casting her mech’s visual sensors to either side. At her right was Bailey, Gatecrasher Two, their mech half-blended into the starscape; they clearly had already activated the active camouflage system. On her left, completing the 3-person delta was Emiko, Gatecrasher Three, flying an unmistakably massive chassis.

PE-913-B came into view as Gatecrasher rounded the flank of the massive asteroid. It would have been a fairly standard surface installation; drab white rounded rectilinear prefab buildings anchored to the silicate surface, cylindrical passages between them, with occasional armored power lines and pipes crossing the dusty surface. Now though, it had been blown apart. One of the larger building remnants on the perimeter, helpfully designated as the primary server farm by Emily’s HUD seemed to have been the epicenter of the detonation. Around the site, space was littered with debris from the explosion. What was strange though, was how perfectly still the whole tableau was. It wasn’t like she had expected anything to have fallen back to the surface, this was microgravity---but everything was completely still. None of the debris was coasting away, it wasn’t even tumbling. All of it just ringed the facility, perfectly still. It was as if the detonation had happened, and then everything stopped in place, like a frozen frame in a movie.

“Command, Gatecrasher; we have visual on the facility. There’s been no change from previous drone reconnaissance”, Emily called in over the radio. The reply crackled back shortly: “Good copy Gatecrasher. Proceed to the epicenter. Drones couldn’t see anything, so we need human eyes on this”. Delicately jetting her mech towards server facility, Emily spoke to her team:

“Gatecrasher Two, Three, Gatecrasher Actual. While we’re getting eyes for command, I want 20 meters separation _minimum_ between all of us. Two, on the ground with me, let’s get a couple different angles on this. Three, stay just off the surface. I want you as backup if anything weirder than usual happens”.

She got an “aye ma’am” in response from each in turn, and began to gently ease her mech down to the surface, microgravity maneuvering jets hissing. Bailey touched down first, their mech’s camouflage already shifting to the stark greys and blacks of the asteroid, streaked with the shredded white of facility debris. Above them, Emiko centered herself over the site, brief bursts of flame from her larger chassis’ hypergolic thrusters making the stark shadows flicker.

Emily slowly guided her mech forward towards the epicenter of the detonation, the chassis’ feet silently crunching against the surface silica of the asteroid. In the distance, Bailey’s mech took a knee, holding another visual angle on the center. There was still nothing visible on the cockpit sensor displays surrounding her. A sudden shift in the vacuum-stark shadows caught her attention; Emiko had drifted into a piece of metallic debris, sending it tumbling to the side. That was the first time any of them had seen the remnants of the site move at all. “Actual, Three, no damage from the debris bump”, Emiko stated over the radio, voice calm and unperturbed. “Copy Three, keep an eye out if anything about the site reacts”, Emily replied. At least conventional physics mostly still held around this particular paracausal entity.

Emily was close to the apparent epicenter, perhaps 10 meters away now. There was still nothing atypical on her sensors, in any spectra. She took another glance, and paused her forward motion; The starfield beyond looked ever so slightly wrong, a few of the points of light elongated ever so slightly. Stepping her mech slightly to the side, she looked harder. Now that she was close enough, there was the barest visual distortion. “Command, Gatecrasher. At a 10 meter distance from the presumed center of the explosion, slight visual distortion becomes visible. What was the closest drone surveillance pass?” Emily inquired. A long 15 seconds later, Command’s reply came, “Gatecrasher, Command. Advise, closest drone pass to the epicenter was 3 meters. Assume phenomena is consciousness-sensitive. Continue approach and observation”. Emily resumed guiding her mech slowly forward, adding on the team channel, “Two, Three, Actual. Approach to 10 meters to verify visual distortion from alternate angles. I’ll push to the 3 meter threshold from the drone footage”. Acknowledging her command, Bailey began to reposition, their mech advancing faster than she had. Above, a brief flash from Emiko’s mech, as it drifted downwards.

Emily had reached the 3 meter mark Command had mentioned---the visual distortion was still faint, but a little stronger, more noticeable. Emiko and Bailey had already called in, the visual distortion was visible from their angles too. Whatever the entity was, it was at least broadly visible. Emily called in:

“Command, Gatecrasher. Entity is confirmed broadly visible and consciousness-sensitive. It appears to be an optical distortion, occupying a 1 meter diameter sphere. No additional paracausal effects are apparent at this time. Gatecrasher Actual will advance beyond the current 3 meter range for further observation”.

Command acknowledged, and she began to slowly step her mech forward a little closer to the anomaly.

Emily crossed the 2 meter mark, and blinked. Everything flashed to nothing, flashed to everything, and she saw absolutely nothing in every possible color; the entire universe seared across her empty vision---every nerve screamed with electricity and she felt nothing. She ripped apart, and screamed in perfect silence. There was nothing, not even the dark. She was not aware of anything, could not feel icy cold storage, didn’t see the infinity that she heard.

**WELCOME, VARIABLE;**

She didn’t hear the words, nor see them scroll across her vision. Instead they seared across her consciousness, insistent like her internal monologue, yet clearly not of her mind, her subjectivity.

**WE ARE EINHERJAR;**

**SCHEDULING NEW THREAD;**

She screamed, she waited---Emily forked, diverged, ripped apart; she was whole, she was herself, she was… Angry. Something had happened, had ripped her from her team. This was not where she was. She opened her eyes, looking around the cockpit of her mech. It wasn’t her mech. It was her mech. It was an Everest, basic as can be---outfitted with a heavy blade, a GMS assault rifle, rocket pods, a standard loadout, akin to what recruits would be given. She hadn’t been a recruit for 15 years. This was wrong. This was right. The world was grey and red, metallic, stretching into horizonless infinity. She was alone. There was another mech in front of her, 100 meters away, identical to her. Was it her? Was it a mirror? She hated her, this was her fault. Two directives seared across her consciousness as she and her mirror-opponent sprang forward:

**SURVIVE;**

**ELIMINATE;**


End file.
